America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 361 Kicked Out
In the conference room of Legendary Pictures, a series of producers including Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are holding a meeting to discuss the next focus of work.

As an indispensable part of the Hollywood film industry and even every crew, Howard, a representative of the Firefighters Fund Insurance Company, also attended the meeting.

The company served as the crew's completion guarantee.

The key to Hollywood's ability to attract investors from all over the world is the completion guarantee system. Insurance companies provide insurance to investors to ensure that the film can be completed. Once an accident occurs to the crew, the insurance company even has the right to take over the crew and recruit people to complete the filming and production of the film.

If the production fails, the insurance company will pay a heavy price.

Therefore, during the early preparation stage of the crew, the guarantor will eliminate all unfavorable factors.

The work was discussed one by one, and Howard did not interrupt. The completion guarantee required the smooth operation of the crew, not interfering with the work.

Charles Roven, who chaired the meeting, quickly talked about an extremely important aspect of the film: the audition of the actors for the Joker.

"The film is similar to the duel between two heroes in Heat, and the role of the Joker is very crucial." Charles Roven stood at the front of the conference table and said, "Currently, many actors have passed our initial selection."

He introduced them one by one: "Martin Davis, the most popular young actor in recent years, has great commercial appeal; Robin Williams, an Oscar winner, can handle a variety of roles; Adrien Brody, the Oscar winner for Best Actor in previous years; Heath Ledger, a representative of the acting school among young actors, has ten years of experience in the industry..."

One by one, the actors who passed the initial selection appeared on the projection screen.

Charles Roven said: "The crew will send audition invitations to these actors."

Nolan replied, "We will make a decision on the specific results after the makeup audition."

Warner Bros. and DC Comics support Nolan.

Another producer expressed doubt: "Heath Ledger is not suitable, he..."

"Heath Ledger is a good actor." Warner Bros.' Allen Horn interrupted him directly: "His gloomy temperament is very suitable for the role. Life and work in Hollywood have always been separate. As long as the role is good enough and the movie is well made, the private life is nothing."

Louise didn't say anything, but looked at her watch. She had just received a text message with only a few words.

"nailed it."

She knew that the bastard Martin was going to kill his most threatening opponent before going to the boxing ring.

In the lounge next to the conference room, Howard's assistant Phil received a call from someone claiming to be an employee of the Firefighters Fund Company.

The other party on the phone asked him to check TMZ immediately, as this was related to the success or failure of the company's cooperation with Warner.

Phil opened the laptop he carried with him, connected it to the Internet cable next to him, logged into the TMZ website, and saw the news and videos pinned to the top of the homepage.

After taking a quick look and confirming that it was of great relevance to the company's project, he hurried out of the lounge and gently knocked on the door of the conference room.

The company has regulations that when encountering similar situations, the relevant person in charge must be notified immediately.

The conference room door opened and the interrupted meeting was temporarily interrupted.

Phil apologized, quickly came to Howard, leaned in and whispered, "Something happened. It's about the casting of the crew. TMZ..."

He spoke quickly and concisely.

Howard nodded, motioned for him to find a place to sit temporarily, straightened his tie, rested his arms on the conference table, and said, "Something has gone wrong. I suggest that the meeting be temporarily suspended to read the report on TMZ.

He hadn't seen the relevant reports and would not easily express his opinion, so he simply said: "It is directly related to the crew's future work."

Charles Rowan said to an assistant, "Project it onto the screen."

The assistant immediately took relevant actions and TMZ's website homepage soon appeared on the screen.

Everyone in the conference room saw Heath Ledger's name.

Alan Horn frowned slightly, feeling unwell.

Nolan thought thoughtfully.

Emma Thomas immediately thought of the shitty things Heath Ledger had done before.

The success or failure of this movie is crucial to the careers of both husband and wife.

Once you fail, there may be no recovery.

Charles Rowan said, "Open it."

The news opened and three videos were played one by one. There was only one person in them, Heath Ledger!

The most recent video, the shooting date is shown as today.

All those present in the conference room were Hollywood professionals. They were not unfamiliar with certain things and could understand what was happening with just a quick glance.

Howard's job is to control risks. He was thinking about it while watching the video. After the video was played, he said directly: "Heath Ledger once endangered the lives of others because of his personal behavior on the Brooklyn set in New York. I didn't object before, thinking that he had reformed, but at present, the situation is not optimistic."

He concluded: "From the perspective of crew safety, I have reason to suspect that Heath Ledger may endanger the safety of other actors. If the crew uses Heath Ledger, it will jeopardize the filming and completion of the film."

Charles Rowan looked at Alan Horn. They were in the same company, and he hoped that Alan would not do anything stupid.

Allen Horn didn't say anything, as if it had nothing to do with him. Allen Horn had no problem with Bell's request, but he was not willing to take too much risk.

Charles Roven exchanged glances with DC Comics director Orlin and quickly reached an agreement, saying, "Cancel Heath Ledger's audition invitation. He is not suitable for this crew."

Emma Thomas immediately followed up and said, "I agree."

Nolan didn't say anything. Bell made a promise to him, but this promise was obviously unreliable.

No one present objected, and Heath Ledger was removed from the crew's audition invitation list.

At the end of the meeting, Howard found Charles Rowan alone and had a brief conversation.

"The crew was not rigorous enough in this matter." Charles Rowan gave the proper attitude: "I promise that something like this will not happen again."

Howard reminded him, "Charles, we have worked together many times, but this time the budget is too high, with a production cost of $1.8 million. If something unexpected happens in the middle of the production, even if we replace the actors, the loss will be as high as tens of millions of dollars, and then both of us will be finished."

Charles said: "Don't worry, the crew will definitely choose the most suitable actor."

Howard really felt the pressure this time: "I hope the actors chosen by the crew are not only excellent in acting, but also good in professionalism and work ethics."

Charles complied.

Howard immediately left Legendary Pictures and after returning to the company, he immediately communicated with his superiors about the matter and proposed to temporarily blacklist Heath Ledger from the Firefighters Fund Insurance Company.

This insurance company provides completion guarantees for nearly 80% of Hollywood film projects!

…………

The news that Heath Ledger was not invited to audition for the film was immediately passed to Martin.

In the suite of the Four Seasons Hotel, Martin put down his cell phone, picked up a glass of wine, poured it into his mouth, and the wine flowed out from the corners of his mouth, bright red like blood.

A playing card fell from his hand.

Martin used his fingernails to dig several holes in the poker card, which fell on the carpet. The holes in the snow-white poker card set off the dark color of the carpet, like the face of a devil.

The blood-red wine flowed down the corners of Martin's mouth.

Tick-tock! Tick-tock—

It fell on the devil's face, leaving a big blood-red mouth.

Bruce suddenly took a step back, thinking, this bastard's head is not filled with stinky dog ​​shit, but human blood?

"Ha..." Martin wiped the wine stains and opened his blood-red lips: "Old Bull, we have achieved the first goal. We have eliminated the biggest threat!"

Bruce couldn't help but say, "We are so damn upright. What we did is like justice from heaven."

Martin laughed happily and unscrupulously. All the things that were weighing him down were thrown away. He said, "We didn't do anything. We just gave them a small push from behind."

Bruce said: "That's right. If Heath Ledger didn't have serious problems, how could he be kicked out of the audition list?"

"But this result makes me very happy." Martin stood up and danced with joy. "I have never felt such a genuine comfort before."

Hearing this, Bruce suddenly stopped smiling and asked tentatively, "You're not getting too deep into the role and really becoming a pervert, are you?"

Martin laughed: "How is that possible? I am just enjoying all of this. It feels so charming to let go of all the burdens and relax both mentally and physically."

Bruce's cell phone rang and he picked it up. It was Thomas calling.

The two chatted for a while and talked about the film project.

Bruce hung up the phone and said quickly, "David Fincher called Thomas personally and said that the audition for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would not be until the second half of the year. He hopes that you can wait for the crew for a while and then go for the audition."

Martin responded: "No problem."

Having recently let go of my inhibitions, some words came out naturally: "Tell that crew that I don't like Cate Blanchett."

There is recent news that the crew of "Benjamin" wants to invite Cate Blanchett to audition for the leading actress.

Bruce wrote it down and would inform Thomas later. As for how to word it, it would be up to Thomas.

He added: "Rory's First Kiss has been renamed and is officially titled The Dark Knight. An audition for the Joker will be held in three weeks, and the crew has extended a formal invitation to you."

"Very good." Martin said, "Find a stylist and a costume designer according to my requirements. They must be reliable."

Bruce responded: "Thomas is looking for it."

Martin said: "Time flies. It's time to move on to the next plan. Remember to remind Leo that idiot next week."

Bruce understood what was going on: "Did everyone in the crew see your efforts?"

(End of this chapter)